“Machine wash warm inside out with like colors. Use non-chlorine bleach. Tumble dry medium. Medium not iron. Do not iron, Or, GIVE IT TO YOUR WOMAN– it’s her job;” these are actual care instructions for a line of beige chinos made by Madhouse. The British chain of men’s clothing stores was tweeted by hundreds as “shameful” and “outrageous” for suggesting that women are the ones who are supposed to do the laundry while others found it funny and more humiliating for men:

Today, The Telegraph shared the following statement from a Madhouse spokesperson: “The chinos in question are manufactured by a jeans brand that we stock but the care instructions on this product were not proofed by our buyers who normally concern themselves with quality, style and price of the products they order. The first Madhouse was aware of the care instruction on this product was today. The wording was not instigated or ordered by Madhouse.The wording is clearly meant as a joke but now it has been pointed out to us it is something we will need to be more careful about in the future.”

Is Madhouse telling the truth? Could they really not have noticed the label until today? Or is this some clever publicity stunt?

Either way the clothing chain has been getting plenty of exposure.

Other comments on The Telegraph article’s page continued the row:

Commenter 1: “Proof that women don’t do humour, laughter is a man’s job. :D”

Commenter 2: “I don’t think it’s offensive; nasty, griping, malevolent feminists give we normal women a bad name… It’s like they’re trying to justify sexism with their horrid behavior. I can’t stand them- they annoy me far worse than any chauvinist. Normal women are NOT offended by silly jokes- we just don’t air our lack of offense as loudly as harpies air their offense.”

Despite the fact that the family wage system has vanished, Tweets like this prove that men and women are still debating the roles and characteristics of one and other based on gender. Women who were offended by the instructions are labeled by other females as automatic feminists while more “politically correct” males devalue Madhouse’s brand appeal. These comments even went further by subjugating Germans as a whole.

Do you think that people are overreacting to Madhouse’s “sexist trousers?”